Part 19

It is no wonder, your _Author_ has so many odd and strange opinions in Philosophy, since they do not onely proceed from strange Visions, Apparitions, and Dreams, but are built upon so strange grounds and principles as _Ideas, Archeus, Gas, Blas, Ferment,_ and the like, the names of which sound so harsh and terrifying, as they might put any body easily into a fright, like so many Hobgoblins or Immaterial spirits; but the best is, they can do no great harm, except it be to trouble the brains of them, that love to maintain those opinions; for though they are thought to be powerful beings, yet being not corporeal substances, I cannot imagine wherein their power should consist; for Nothing can do nothing. But to mention each apart; first his _Archeus_ he calls[1] _the Spirit of Life; a vital gas or Light; the Balsam preferring from Corruption; the_ Vulcan _or Smith of Generation; the stirrer up, and inward director of generation; an Air; a skiey or airy Spirit; cloathing himself presently with a bodily cloathing, in things soulified, walking through all the dens and retiring places of the seed, and transforming the matter according to the perfect act of its own Image, remaining the president and overseer or inward ruler of his bounds even till death; the Principle of Life: the Inn of Life, the onely immediate Witness, Executor, and Instrument of Life; the Prince and Center of Life; the Ruler of the Stern; the Keeper of Life, and promoter of Transmutations; the Porter of the Soul; a Fountainous being; a Flint._[2] These, and many more names your _Author_ attributes to his _Archeus_, but what properly it is, and what its Nature and its peculiar office, I am not able to conceive. In the next place, _Gas_ and _Blas_ are to your _Author_ also true Principles of Natural things; for[3] _Gas is the Vapour into which Water is dissolved by Cold, but yet it is a far more fine and subtil thing then Vapour_; which he demonstrates by the Art of Chymistry. This _Gas_ in another place he calls[4] a _Wild Spirit, or Breath, unknown hitherto; which can neither be constrained by Vessels, nor reduced into a visible body; in some things it is nothing but Water, as for example in Salt, in Fruits, and the like._ But[5] _Blas proceeds from the local and alterative motion of the Stars, and is the general beginning of motion, producing heat and cold, and that especially with the changing of the Winds._ There is also[6] _Blas in all sublunary things_; witness Amulets or preserving Pomanders, whereby they do constrain objects to obey them; _Which Incorporeal Blas of Government acts without a Corporeal Efflux, even as the Moon makes the Sea to swell; but the fleshly generation_[7] _hath a Blas of its own, and it is twofold, one which existeth by a natural Motion, the other voluntary, which existeth as a mover to it self by an Internal Willing._ There is also a _Blas of the Heart_, which is _the fuel of the Vital Spirit, and consequently of its heat._ The _Ferment_[8] he describes to be _A true Principle or Original beginning of things, to wit, a Formal Created beginning, which is neither a substance, nor an accident, but a Neutral being, framed from the beginning of the World in the places of its own Monarchy, in the manner of Light, Fire, the magnal or sheath of the Air, Forms, &c. that it may prepare, stir up, and go before the Seeds._ Lastly, his _Ideas_ are _Certain formal seminal Lights,_[9] _mutually piercing each other without the adultery of Union; For_, says he, _although at first, that, which is imagined, is nothing, but a meer being of reason, yet it doth not remain such; for truely the Fancy is a sealifying vertue, and in this respect is called Imaginative, because it forms the Images of Likenesses, or Ideas of things conceived, and doth characterize them in its own Vital Spirit, and therefore that Idea is made a spiritual or seminal powerful being, to perform things of great moment._ And those Ideas he makes various and numerous; as _Archeal Ideas, Ideas of Diseases, Sealifying Ideas, Piercing Ideas, Forreign and strange Ideas, Mad Ideas, Irrational and Incorrigible Ideas, Staggering Ideas,_ and a hundred others: the like of _Gas, Blas,_ and the rest. Thus, _Madam_, I have made a rehearsal of your _Authors_ strange, and hitherto unknown, Principles (as his Confession is) of Natural things, which, to my sense and reason, are so obscure, intricate and perplex, as is almost impossible exactly to conceive them; when as Principles ought to be easie, plain, and without any difficulty to be understood; Wherefore what with his Spirits, meer-beings, _non_-beings, and neutral-beings, he troubles Nature, and puzles the brains of his Readers so, that, I think, if all men were of his opinion, or did follow the way of his Philosophy, Nature would desire God she might be annihilated: Onely, of all other, she doth not fear his Non-beings, for they are the weakest of all, and can do her the least hurt, as not being able to obstruct real and corporeal actions of Nature; for Nature is a corporeal substance, and without a substance Motion cannot be, and without Motion opposition cannot be made, nor any action in Nature, whether Prints, Seals, Stamps, Productions, Generations, Thoughts, Conceptions, Imaginations, Passions, Appetites, or the like: and if motions cannot be without substance; then all Creatures, their properties, faculties, natures, &c., being made by corporeal motions, cannot be _Non_-beings, no nor anything else that is in Nature; for _non_-beings are not in the number of Natural things, Nature containing nothing within her, but what is substantially, really, and corporeally existent. But your Authors _Ideal Entity_, (whereof he is speaking in another place of his Works,)[10] which performs all the Works of Nature, seems to me, as if it were the Jack of all Offices, or like the Jack in a Clock, that makes every Wheel move; for it hath an admirable power to put off and on Corporeality and Incorporeality, and to make it self Something and Nothing as often as it has occasion; but if this _Proteus_ have such power, it may well be named the Magick of Nature. Your _Author_ saith, it is not the Devil, nor any effect thereof: but certainly, in my opinion, according to its description, and the effects laid to its performance, it must be more then the Devil; wherefore, in my Reason, I cannot conceive it, neither am I able to understand his _Phantastick Activity, Fancy of Forms, the Souls acting by an insensible way,_ and many more such like expressions. But I conceive that all these can be nothing else but the several motions of the sensitive and rational matter, which is the Active, Ingenious, Distinguishing, Knowing, Wise and Understanding part of Infinite corporeal Nature; and though Infinite Matter hath Infinite parts in general, yet there is a finiteness in every part considered by it self: not that I think a Part can really subsist single and by it self, but it is onely considered so in the manner of our Conception, by reason of the difference and variousness of natural Creatures: for these being different from each other in their figures, and not all alike, so that we can make a distinction betwixt them; this difference and distinction causes us to conceive every part of a different figure by it self: but properly and according to the Truth of Nature, there is no part by it self subsisting; for all parts are to be considered, not onely as parts of the whole, but as parts of other parts, all parts being joyned in Infinite Nature, and tied by an inseparable tie one way or other, although we do not altogether perceive it. But to return to _Ideas_: I had almost forgot to tell you, _Madam_, of another kind of _Ideas_, by your _Author_ named, _Bewitching_ or _Inchanting Ideas_,[11] which are for the most part found in Women, against which I cannot but take exception in the behalf of our Sex: For, says he, _Women stamp Ideas on themselves, whereby they, no otherwise then Witches driven about with a malignant spirit of despair, are oftentimes governed or snatched away unto those things, which otherwise they would not, and do bewail unto us their own and unvoluntary Madness: These Ideas are hurtful to themselves, and do, as it were, Inchant, Infatuate, and weaken themselves; for so (as_ Plutarch _witnesses) a desire of death by hanging took hold of all the young Maids in the Island_ Chios. By this it appears, that your _Author_ has never been in Love, or else he would have found, that Men have as well bewitching _Ideas_ as Women, and that they are as hurtful to Men, as to Women. Neither can I be perswaded to believe, that men should not have as well Mad _Ideas_ as Women; for to mention no other example, some, (I will not speak of your _Author_) their Writings and strange Opinions in Philosophy do sufficiently witness it; but whence those Ideas do proceed, whether from the Bride-bed of the Soul, or the Splene, your _Author_ doth not declare. As for the young Maids in _Chios_, I must confess, it is a very strange example; but I think there have been as many Men that have killed themselves, as Women, if not more: However, I hope, by the Grace of God, the young Maids in this Kingdom are better advised; for if they should do the like, it would be a sad fate for all young Men. To conclude, _Madam_, all these rehearsed opinions of your _Author_, concerning the Grounds or Principles of Natural Philosophy, if you desire my Unfeigned Judgment, I can say no more, but that they shew more Fancy, then Reason and Truth, and so do many others; and, perhaps, my opinions may be as far from Truth as his, although their Ground is Sense and Reason; for there is no single Creature in Nature, that is able to know the perfectest Truth: but some opinions, to humane sense and reason, may have more probability then others, and every one thinks his to be most probable, according to his own fancy and imagination, and so I think of mine; nevertheless, I leave them to the censure of those, that are endued with solid judgment and reason, and know how to discern betwixt things of fancy and reason, and amongst the rest, I submit them to the censure of your _Ladiship_, whose solid and wise Judgment is the rule of all the actions of,

Madam,

_Your Faithful Friend_

_and Servant._

[1] _In his_ ch. _called_ The Fiction of Elementary Complexions and Mixtures.

[2] _In the_ ch. of the Birth and Original of Forms. _In the_ ch. Of the Ideas of Diseases. _See his_ ch. _called_ The Seat of Diseases in the Soul is confirmed. Ch. of Archeal Diseases. Ch. _called_ The Subject of inhering of Diseases is in the point of Life, &c.

[3] _In the_ ch. Of the Gas of the Water.

[4] _In the_ ch. of the Fiction of Elementary Complexions and Mixtures.

[5] _In the_ ch. Of the Blas of Meteors.

[6] _In the_ ch. Of the unknown action of Government.

[7] _In the_ ch. Of the Blas of Man.

[8] Of the Causes and beginnings of Natural things.

[9] Of the Ideas of Diseases.

[10] Of the Magnetick cure of Wounds.

[11] Of things Conceived, or Conceptions.

III.

_MADAM,_

Your _Author_ relating how he dissents from the _false Doctrine_, as he terms it, _of the Schools_, concerning the Elements, and their Mixtures, Qualities, Temperaments, Discords, &c. in order to Diseases, is pleased to say as follows:[1] _I have sufficiently demonstrated, that there are not four Elements in Nature, and by consequence, if there are onely three, that four cannot go together, or encounter; and that the fruits which Antiquity hath believed to be mixt bodies, and those composed from a concurrence of four elements, are materially of one onely Element; also that those three Elements are naturally cold; nor that native heat is any where in things, except from Light, Life, Motion, and an altering Blas: In like manner, that all actual moisture is of Water, but all virtual moisture from the property of the seeds: Likewise, that dryness is by it self in the Air and Earth, but in Fruits by reason of the Seeds and Coagulations; and that there are not Contraries in Nature._ To give you my opinion hereof, first I think it too great a presumption in any man, to feign himself so much above the rest, as to accuse all others of ignorance, and that none but he alone hath the true knowledg of all things as infallible and undeniable, and that so many Learned, Wise and Ingenious Men in so many ages have been blinded with errors; for certainly, no particular Creature in Nature can have any exact or perfect knowledg of Natural things, and therefore opinions cannot be infallible truths, although they may seem probable; for how is it possible that a single finite Creature should know the numberless varieties and hidden actions of Nature? Wherefore your _Author_ cannot say, that he hath demonstrated any thing, which could not be as much contradicted, and perhaps with more reason, then he hath brought proofs and demonstrations: And thus when he speaks of Elements, that there are not four in Nature, and that they cannot go together, or encounter, it may be his opinion; but others have brought as many reasons to the contrary, and I think with more probability; so as it is unnecessary to make a tedious discourse thereof, and therefore I'le refer you to those that have treated of it more learnedly and solidly then I can do. But I perceive your _Author_ is much for Art, and since he can make solid bodies liquid, and liquid bodies solid, he believes that all bodies are composed out of the Element of Water, and that Water therefore is the first Principle of all things; when as Water, in my opinion, is but an Effect, as all other natural Creatures, and therefore cannot be a cause or principle of them. Concerning the _Natural coldness of Water, Air, and Earth,_ it may be, or not be so, for any thing your _Author_ can truly know; but to my sense and reason, it seems probable that there are things naturally hot and moist, and hot and dry, as well as cold and moist, and cold and dry: But all these are but several effects produced by the several actions of Natural Matter, which Natural Matter is the onely Principle of all Natural Effects and Creatures whatever; and this Principle, I am confident your _Author_ can no more prove to be Water, then he can prove that Heat, Light, Life, Motion, and _Blas_, are not material. Concerning what he saith, That _Native Heat is no where in things, except from Light, Life, Motion, and an altering Blas_: I believe that motion of life makes not onely heat, but all effects whatsoever; but this native heat is not produced onely from the motions of Particular lives in particular Creatures, but it is made by the motions of Natures life; which life, in all probability, is the self-moving Matter, which no doubt, can and doth make Light and Blas without Heat, and Heat without Light or Blas; Wherefore Light and Blas are not principles of native Heat, no more then native Heat is the principle of Light and Blas. Neither is Water the Principle of Actual moisture, nor the propriety of seeds the Principle of all Virtual moisture; but self-moving Matter is the Principle of all, and makes both actual and virtual moisture, and there is no question but there are many sorts of moistures. As for _Dryness_, which he says, _is by it self in the Air and Earth, and in Fruits by reason of the Seeds and Coagulations_: I cannot conceive how any thing can be by it self in Nature, by reason there is nothing alone and single in Nature, but all are inseparable parts of one body: perchance, he means, it is naturally and essentially inherent in Air and Earth; but neither can that be in my reason, because all Creatures and Effects of Nature are Intermixt, and there is as much dryness in other Creatures, as in Air and Earth. Lastly, as for his opinion, That _there are no Contraries in Nature_; I believe not in the essence or nature of Matter; but sense and reason inform us, that there are Contraries in Natures actions, which are Corporeal motions, which cause mixtures, qualities, degrees, discords, as also harmonious conjunctions and concords, compositions, divisions, and the like effects whatsoever. But though your _Author_ seems to be an enemy to the mixtures of Elements, yet he makes such a mixture of Divinity, and natural Philosophy, that all his Philosophy is nothing but a meer Hotch-potch, spoiling one with the other. And so I will leave it to those that delight in it, resting,

Madam,

_Your faithful Friend_

_and Servant._

[1] _In his Treatise called_, A passive deceiving of the Schools of the Humourists.

IV.

_MADAM,_

_Water_, according to your _Authors_ opinion,[1] _is frozen into Snow, Ice, or Hail, not by Cold, but by its own Gas._ But since I am not able to conceive what his Gas is, being a term invented by him self, I will briefly declare my own opinion, which is, That Snow, Ice, and Hail, in my judgment, are made in the like manner, as Passions or Colours are made and raised in Man; for a sad discourse, or a cruel object will make a Man pale and cold, and a fearful object, will make him tremble; whereas a wanton and obscene discourse will make some red and hot. But yet these discourses and objects are onely external, occasional, and not immediate efficient causes of such alterations. Also when a Man eats or drinks any thing that is actually hot or cold, or enters into a cold or hot room, bath, or air, he becomes hot or cold by the actions of those external agents that work upon him, or rather whose motions the sensitive motions of his body do pattern out. The like for diseases; for they may be caused either by hearing ill reports, or by taking either hurtful or superfluous food into the Body, or by Infections inwardly or outwardly, and many other ways. Likewise may Colours be made different ways; And so may Snow, Ice, and Hail; for all loose, rare, and porous Bodies are more apt to alter and change then close, solid, and dense bodies; and not onely to change from what they are, but to rechange to what they were. But, _Madam_, many studious persons study Nature more in her own substance, then in her various actions, which is the cause they arrive to no knowledg of Natures Works; for the same parts of Matter may act or work several ways: Like as a Man, or other animal creature, may put one part of his body into various and several postures, and move it many different ways. Your _Author_ may say, that although several Creatures may be changed to our sight or perception, yet they are not really changed in Nature. I answer, Their Principle, which is a natural matter, of which all Creatures are made, cannot be changed, because it is one, simple, and unalterable in its Nature; but the figures of several Creatures are changed continually by the various motions of this matter; not from being matter, but onely from such or such a figure into another; and those figures which do change, in their room are others produced to keep up the certain kinds of Creatures by a continual successive alteration. And as there are changes of parts, so there are also mixtures of several parts, figures and motions in one and the same Matter; for there are not different kinds in the nature of Matter: But, although Matter is of several degrees, as partly animate and partly inanimate, and the animate Matter is partly rational, and partly sensitive; Nevertheless, in all those degrees it remains the same onely or meer Matter; that is, it is nothing else but Matter, and the onely ground in which all changes are made. And therefore I cannot perceive it to be impossible in Nature, as to your _Author_ it seems, That _Water should not be transchangeable into Air_; for, that he says, _The Air would have increased into a huge bulk, and all Water would have long since failed_: It is no consequence, because there is a Mutual transmutation of all figures and parts of Nature, as I declared above; and when one part is transchanged into another, that part is supplied again by the change of another, so that there can be no total mutation of kinds or sorts of figures, but onely a mutual change of the particulars. Neither is it of any consequence, when your _Author_ says, That _if Water should once be turned into Air, it would always remain Air, because a returning agent is wanting, which may turn Air again into Water._ For he might as well say, a Man cannot go or turn backward, being once gone forward. And although he brings a General Rule, That _every thing, as much as in it lies, doth desire to remain in it self_; Yet it is impossible to be done, by reason there is no rest in Nature, she being in a perpetual motion, either working to the consistance of a figure, or to the uniting of several parts, or to the dissolving or dividing of several parts, or any other ways. By dissolving, I do not mean annihilating, but such a dissolving of parts as is proper for the altering of such a figure into one or many other figures. But rather then your Author will consent to the transchanging of Water into Air, he will feign several grounds, soils or pavements in the Air, which he calls _Peroledes_, and so many Flood-gates and Folding-dores, and make the Planets their Key-keepers; which are pretty Fancies, but not able to prove any thing in Natural Philosophy. And so leaving them to their Author, I rest,

Madam,

_Your humble and_

_faithful Servant._

[1] _Ch._ Of the Gas of Water.

V.

_MADAM,_